What kind of walkway can I make over flowering cherry roots?
by
Lori
+1
I have a flowering cherry that is about 15 years old. It has grown to be about 30 or 35 feet wide and about twenty feet tall. The roots being shallow have caused my walkway to the front door to heave a little and it has cracked in several places. The tag on the tree said maximum height and width 15 feet! We love the tree though. Can anyone suggest a good replacement for the cement slab walkway? Currently the slabs are approximately 5 feet long and three and a half feet wide. The cherry is about 8 feet from the walkway. I don't see roots right at the walkway, but can see a root in the lawn on the other side a few feet past the walk.
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Sounds like you have not been pruning the tree regularly. Get a licensed arborist out for a consult.
Tree roots need to breathe. I would use mulch or a tumbled pea type gravel with stepping stones.
This tutorial calls for pea gravel, but we found decomposed granite MUCH easier to walk on, so that's what I'd use if it were me:
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/lay-walkway-over-tree-root-25855.html
Maybe elevated,just a little above/off ground(6"-8") deck walk way this would provide easy level walkway & give the tree/roots the space it needs to continue growing. If it's been healthy & happily blooming I'd leave the tree itself alone. I bet it's spectacular in full bloom!
It is spectacular and it fills my living room window which is on the second floor. It also draws hummingbirds. I even saw one a couple of weeks ago. In Southwestern BC which is similar to the Pacific Northwest. It was pruned several years ago and will be again this year, just to reduce the size a few feet as it is nearly touching the house again, and to remove crossing or low hanging branches. My problem is that my husband passed away a few years ago and I am now a senior. I do not have the strength or stamina that I once had so need to hire someone to do the job and want it low maintenance. It seems very happy where it is despite the walkway and has a bark and foliage treatment each year.